Why Golf Is Boring To Watch

 

I really enjoyed watching the golf telecasts. Not so much anymore. 

I thought it was because they just have too damn many commercials. The telecasts are top-notch, great production, and way better than the Euro Tour (whatever they're called now).

But I finally figured out why golf is in a tailspin. It's not because of the dilution of golf with the LIV tour and the PGA tour, not because of too many commercials. It's because of the man above. 

Yes, the penultimate golfer of all time. The great Tiger Woods. There will never be another. What we were treated to for so long was a one-off. Tiger was a pure joy to watch. Remember when he won the US Open at Pebble Beach? A bunch of dudes bowing to Tiger as he walked by. Tiger was God. 

Tiger's gone through a hell of a lot of surgeries and has endured pain I can't even imagine. He's a private man and doesn't wear all his miseries in public. But he's been through and still going through it. Every time you turn around, Tiger's getting another surgery.

So we'll never have another Tiger. Ever. No one can be that good. 

I Went To A Funeral

 

Have you ever been in a social situation and done the most inappropriate? I swear, whenever I'm suffering from depression, send me to a funeral and I'll be laughing uncontrollably. I wish I could say it's a one-off, but not so. My wife and I have now agreed that I must sit in the church's last row for any future gatherings.

My wife's friend's brother had his funeral yesterday. I didn't know this, but even though only 65 at his passing, he was a hero to his younger sister and brother. When 12, his Dad was beating on Mom and made Dad leave. He became Dad from that day forward. Needless to say, a hell of a guy.

But wife and I are early for the service and I didn't know the backstory. The church service was in a Korean church that once was for honkies and absorbed the honkies into their congregation. So the mother of the deceased was still a member, hence services at this old church.

Before the opening ceremonies, the pastor stands before the decorated urns at the altar. He bows his head for quite a while. He's Korean, so cynical me, the longer he's bowing his head, the more he's thinking "ca-ching", more coins he has to put in the slot machine. Horrible stereotype, but the day before I was at Pechanga.

Then the service starts and another Korean comes and sings a song solo. A bit off key. Again, cynical me, I'm thinking this is his 1st cousin, getting $200 for the gig.

Sorry, but I begin to laugh (quietly), bend over and hide my face in my hands. It's so bad that my body is heaving. Hopefully all those behind me think I'm sobbing. If someone came and punched me out, I would not have blamed them in the least. Again, I feel so bad about it, it's just something I can't control.

But here's a thought I have about funerals that make sense to me: For us to go to the funeral (which we did to honor this wonderful person ((and his wife died 18 days after he died)), we drove quite a distance, and of course had to drive home after. I don't mean to be impersonal, but funerals should be like banking or shopping--online. Do a Zoom set up, everyone check in and go from there. Somehow even have a virtual taco-truck. The best part is you'd get away from this fake religious pomposity/formality and get to the remembrance of the actual person who died. (I went to one funeral and the preacher after talking about how Jesus died for your sins, was one step away from doing an alter call.)

Trump Zelensky White House

As anyone who knows me, I greatly respect Donald Trump. 

But I've watched the full meeting with Trump and Zelensky in the White House. I'm disappointed in JD Vance and President Trump. Zelensky was invited to the White House and treated with disrespect. And then the veracity to say President Zelensky should apologize?

Adam Schiff, who I think should be tried for treason, who is a most despicable, I had to agree with his assessment of the meeting between Trump and Zelensky. 

Ukraine was invaded by Russia.

Russia has murdered Ukrainian men, women and children by the thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands.

I could go on about the evil of Putin, anyone with a smidgen of common sense, knows that Putin is a very bad man. 

It's Trump that owes an apology to Pres. Zelensky. Zelensky is a brave man, war hero, putting his life on the line for his people. Zelensky is treated like he's fodder, like he's a nothing, looked down upon. The US will help you out if you sign an agreement giving up billions of rare earth minerals. Fuck that. 

No. Look at history. The Holodomor. Seriously, if you're reading this and not familiar with the Holodomor, please educate yourself, I beg you. How about the document that the US signed along with Russia and Ukraine that Ukraine give all its nukes back to Russia in exchange for protection if anyone was ever to invade Ukraine?

This is all very ugly. In this regard Conservatives have become Britain's Neville Chamberlain.

This, from AI:When referring to "Churchill and Chamberlain," it signifies a contrast between two British politicians during the pre-World War II era, where Winston Churchill strongly opposed appeasement of Nazi Germany, while Neville Chamberlain, as Prime Minister, actively pursued a policy of appeasement, often seen as a failed attempt to avoid war by making concessions to Hitler; essentially representing a stark difference between a forceful stance against aggression and a policy of trying to pacify an aggressor through negotiation

More on Carbohydrates

 If sugar can't get into the cell with the transporter insulin, it must be best not to eat carbohydrates. Right? Wrong.

The cells need sugar for energy. Energy is what the body needs to keep trucking. The two places glycogen gets stored are the liver and the muscles. But eating a high fat diet, the liver and muscle cells get taken over by fat, thus preferring fat

and shunning sugar. 

But the optimum fuel for the cells to make ATP is sugar, not fat. If the body learns and adjusts to eating fat, the cells of the body become resistant to sugar and insulin is not able to help the sugar into the cells. Hence, insulin resistance. AKA, type II diabetes. Type II is not that the pancreas is not making insulin, it's actually making more than a healthy normal person needs.

The body's best fuel is carbohydrates. Sugar is not the enemy. Check out "Mastering Diabetes" on YT.

So today's the last day of 2024. Bring in 2025 with some lovely boiled kale and balsamic vinegar.

Thank You For Your Service

Today is Veteran's Day. A day to remember all the veterans.

I'm a veteran. Air Force, worked on the ejection seats on the F4 aircraft. 

The veterans who died for this country, those who've been wounded, for me, they are the ones who deserve our gratitude and support.

Me, I was a total fuck-up in the military. The military treated me more than fair and does so to this very day. Health benefits, buying a house. I used the GI Bill to get 6 years of college education.

I joined the military one month after turning 18. I didn't know shit about life. But from the age of 15 to 25 I lived 75% of my life. Jesus, a lot happened in those condensed 10 years.

What a difference though between those 18 year olds storming the beaches of Normandy and college kids today being succored with milk and cookies because the other candidate won the election. 

Leftists Love Trump

 

Democrats, Leftists, Haters, and Deceivers don't actually hate President Trump. They actually adore him. Joy Reid, Bill Maher, Robert De Niro et. al., secretly thank God every day for our great President, The GOAT.

See the snake in the picture above? It's not a snake, look closely, it's a piece of wood. It's a defense mechanism to see things much worse than they are. This is how we've evolved. Likely, we'll never evolve out of it. 

It's dark outside, you're all by yourself in the home. You are suddenly woken by the sounds of broken glass. OMG, someone's breaking into my home. Finally morning comes, you uncover yourself, slowly walk to the kitchen and realize your cat knocked over a vase. 

So a tornado comes. Climate change, the end of the world. ICE internal combustion engines, we're running out of oil. Acid rain, global cooling, running out of water, food, the list is never ending. Shit, get off just watching local news--they really know how to turn on the fear factor. 

And the MSM/Legacy media know how to play into it. Most profitable. They get to warp your mind, control you and you think you're intelligent to believe these fear-mongerers.

The antidote is to embrace President Trump, break the shackles of fear and chant so all may hear: "I love President Trump, the greatest president of all time".

Let's start with Kathy Griffin, Howard Stern and hosts of The View.

Carbs--Those Evil Carbs

 

If you're an American, you've been propagandized that sugar is bad. Bad, bad, and more bad. You've been hoodwinked and you think I'm an idiot for even suggesting that sugar is good for you. Hold on and try to think through a few counter-intuitive ideas. If you can think it through, it may make total sense. 

#1. 20 to 30% of your daily carbohydrate intake is directly used for the brain. Yep. Almost a quarter of carbs goes just to supply that little 3.5 lb organ.

#2. What causes diabetes? Well, of course, it's that evil insulin. Insulin supposedly makes you fat. But try living without insulin and you'll be dead, soon. Diabetes (type 2) is caused by insulin resistance. What is insulin resistant to? It's resistant to getting into your cells. Why? Because where your biggest organs are supposed to store glucose (in the form of glycogen), the liver and muscles mainly, have been overridden with FAT and no longer store sugar. FAT is the enemy, not carbs. Carbohydrates are your friends.

#3. There are only 3 macronutrients (everything you eat is from those three)--fat, carbs and protein. Only whole unprocessed carbohydrates contain fiber. Fiber is a miracle worker in our bodies. Just "Google" what fiber does for our bodies and its importance. Because we fear carbohydrates, only 1 to 2% of us get enough fiber daily. Remember, there is zero fiber in protein and fat.

#4. Carbs have become the cool way of saying and shortening the word "carbohydrates". Guess what those evil carbohydrates are? Carbon and water. Yep, carbon and water or break it down further, carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen. That is 95% of what your body is made of. Over 60% is oxygen alone. But there's a difference between whole and processed carbohydrates, and between refined and unrefined carbohydrates. Candy bars, protein bars, alcohol, sodas. sweeteners--refined/processed. Kale (all greens), fruits, grains and legumes--whole and unrefined.

Over 80% of diabetics are type 2. This means their pancreas makes enough insulin, it's just not capable of getting into the cells. By retraining the liver and the muscles to prefer sugar instead of fat, many type 2 diabetics would be cured.

Shit Hit The Fan

Gutenberg Printing Press

Beautiful video of Gutenberg printing press in action

The printing press changed the world. Changed the world. Allowing for the dissemination of ideas and thoughts. It brought about the Scientific Method. It's largely the scientific method, capitalism, and democratic form of government that gives us the unfathomable richness and blessings we enjoy daily.

It's after the invention of the printing press we have the likes of Rene Descartes, Galileo Galilei, Isaac Newton, Francis Bacon and this beautiful list of names goes on and on.

Reading these great thinkers allows us to learn and absorb their ideas. Ideas that have changed the world and are still changing the world in real-time. Computers and their associated technology make Gutenberg's invention laughable, but without Gutenberg, there are no computers. The debt of gratitude we owe these great thinkers and inventors.... We glorify someone because they can dunk a basketball, but these inventors/thinkers are the heroes when all's said and done. 

Auto Immune Disease

 

Auto immune disease.

Rheumatoid arthritis, or RA, is an autoimmune and inflammatory disease, which means that your immune system attacks healthy cells in your body by mistake, causing inflammation (painful swelling) in the affected parts of the body. RA mainly attacks the joints, usually many joints at once.

The above paragraph was lifted from the CDC.

Now I'm just a layman, not even close to being as smart as doctors or their learned professors. But there are doctors that I follow who go against the protocols of traditional modern medicine.

For instance, years ago I went into a medical office and had my blood pressure taken, which was high. The doctor wanted me to start medication to lower my blood pressure. He told me I'd be on it for life. Thirty years later, I've taken no HBP meds and my BP is normal. What did I do? I eat a Low fat and low-salt diet.

Most doctors don't know the cause of rheumatoid arthritis. It can be inherited. The definition of not knowing the cause of a disease means it's idiopathic.

And from my understanding, the pathological book of diseases used by doctors to define diseases doesn't mention "leaky gut" and "molecular mimicry".  This is my (short) definition of how I define these two terms: Leaky gut is where contents in the intestine moves out of the intestine when it should not. Our immune system then recognizes these foreign bodies and attacks/destroys them. All well and good. But then, through what is called molecular mimicry, our immune system remembers the foreign bodies it attacked, and then goes on to destroy our own thingys inside our bodies. With RA, it's especially devious because it's inside our joints where it's not blood that flows cleansing everything but I'm guessing more like a water type substance in the joints.

So what type of foods would the body want to attack as foreign and then attack our own body? One of the culprits would be foods that have proteins much like our own body. Dairy, (products from the milk of a cow), specifically the protein casein, is what the immune system sees as foreign and attacks it, after these large proteins have escaped the intestine via "leaky gut".

So what might arrest or ease the pain of RA and other auto-immune diseases? Stop ingesting the foods that cause the leaky gut. After seeing a rheumatologist, and different ones for that matter, have any of them mentioned the theory of leaky gut and molecular mimicry? And does the theory appear to make any kind of common sense? Take a half hour or an hour and just type into google "leaky gut/molecular mimicry" and see what some doctors/researches have to say.

Uncommonly Brilliant--Not So Much

 

So my blog is called "Uncommonly Brilliant". I must say, that's rather pretentious.

When I can hide behind my computer and just belt out my thoughts, I get to call my blog anything I want. And "Uncommonly Brilliant" is not one of my attributes.

If 100 IQ is the mean, that'd be me. I hope that's me. Because if that is, most people with an average IQ are functional in society and making the world a better place. What's a "better place" is debatable, but it's smoothly going about one's business.

If I'm below the Bell curve on IQness, that's a good thing too. Because if I'm as smart as I think I am, and I'm actually dumber than most, it bodes well for mankind.

If I'm smarter than I think I am, ie higher on the Bell curve of IQness, that means there are more people dumber than me. Oh my, that's not a good thing. Fortunately, where I live, people around me are smart. Smart people instinctively realize one must be kind to those they meet and those that come into their circle.

I think I'm dumber though sometimes, like when my wife tells a joke, I often don't get it. And I forget people's names five seconds after meeting them. Shit like that. But on the other hand, I know the universe is made up of elements, which are made up of atoms. The atoms consist of a nucleus containing a proton and a neutron, outside of the nucleus, electrons. I know the earth is not flat. I know that beyond our solar system (the earth rotates around the sun) and beyond our galaxy there are billions of galaxies. Those last few sentences are mind-blowing in that I know that but it was the most brilliant of minds who discovered those things in the last just few hundreds of years. Their brilliance I can assimilate into my mind.

One of the subjects I believe I know about that other's don't is nutrition. To me, once one has achieved a comfortable standard of living, health becomes even more important. And I believe I know what's cause for good health but people don't want to be bothered. Much easier to take medication for life, go have surgery than eat food that in the short term doesn't not have the pizaaz of what they're used to, but would benefit in the long run.

But back to IQ. The more I see, the more I believe people aren't equipped or don't have the tools to function optimally in life. But I don't believe it is solely IQ based. It's inquisitiveness, being willing or having the courage to go against the tide. Much easier to be at a bar on a Sunday afternoon eating shit cheering and acting like an idiot because some football team kicked a field goal. 

Car Pile Up-Dream Sunday Nite

 

So last night I had this weird dream.

I dreamed I was working in a factory fixing an under-the-counter 2" cast iron pipe. I finished doing the job with my buddy and we're heading home on the freeway. All of a sudden we're seeing this burned-out wrecked truck totally demolished.

We don't stop but go around. Now we're the only ones on the freeway that's driving. The freeway on the other side can't be seen. We keep driving and all we're seeing is total devastation, heavy equipment trucks all crashed, burned and wrecked, lying there in all directions. It goes on and on. The freeway is five lanes wide, new and clean, with no cars beside us passing all this destruction. It just goes on and on. We're going uphill, around bends, heavy equipment trucks (only), burnt out and demolished.

We get home,  and as we're leaving the garage, others come in with yellow vests. I'm assuming they've been called to assist in this huge heavy equipment truck pileup.

Universal (Unifying) Theory Of Chronic Disease

 

Have you ever watched Dr. House? He portrayed a brilliant doctor who found the rare/esoteric diseases causing his patient's stress. Doctors study many of these diseases in medical school. But the fact is, all those patients flowing into hospitals each morning, are there for the most common of diseases. Diabetes, heart disease, obesity, non-working Johnson, hearing loss, Alzheimer's/memory issues, and back issues/pain. 

The unifying theory of all these diseases is lack of blood flow. Lack of blood flow is caused by stenosis. Stenosis is a narrowing of the arteries. Often, when we think of stenosis, we think of our coronary arteries, but it's happening all over our bodies. Dr. William C. Roberts performed many autopsies and found artery disease occurred throughout the whole body, not just one single vessel. IOW, it was diffuse. Our heart (atherosclerosis), eyes (diabetes),  legs (PAD peripheral artery disease), Johnson (often the canary in the coal mine IOW most likely have heart disease), brain (dementia/Alzheimer's/stroke) and back (OPLL, DISH, spinal stenosis). Ischemia, (lack of blood flow), is caused by stenosis (narrowing of the arteries), and the build-up of fat, cholesterol, and calcium in our arteries and is the cause of all our chronic diseases. And this is all caused by eating a high-fat diet. IOW, it's totally preventable if we choose to put different foods into our bodies.

Nathan Pritikin, not a doctor, but simply a layperson, had it figured out in the early 1970's. He called it "Lipotoximia". The dude had it figured out in the 70's and we're still saying it's idiopathic, meaning we don't know what is causing all these chronic diseases. We do know. 

And many have found the answer and are betting their lives on it. Neil Barnard, Michael Greger, Caldwell Esselstyn, Alan Goldhamer, Doug Lisle, John McDougall, T. Colin Campbell. Just to name a few. 

"Atherosclerosis is the most toxic disease in Western society and will kill 45% of us". Dr. William C. Roberts https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxE_QVAV-2tOE3vtAR_oQPBgJIteNAPktV?si=SCjj2HTZapiXRtNP

Ask a doctor if he thinks there's a unifying theory of chronic diseases suffered by those eating the standard American diet. Or all these diseases mentioned above separate entities all caused by different reasons. 

Salt

 

Salt. Necessary for life. Salt is made up of sodium and chloride. Sodium's Latin word is Natrium. Na is the chemical abbreviation on the periodic chart. Eating at most 2300mg/day is recommended, which we exceed. The recommendation is actually 1500mg/day. Just 1% meet this minimum standard. 

The Yanomami Indians, a tribe of 35,000 in Brazil/Venezuela, eat a diet considered very low in sodium, less than 600mg/day. Their blood pressure is ~95/65. We're talking old folks too. So not only are the Yanomami Indians in the 1 percentile, at <600mg/day, they are probably in the 1% of the 1%.

There used to be a website called Megaheart.com. The guy who founded Megaheart was on the waiting list at Stanford for a heart transplant. He asked his physician if there was anything he could do while waiting for a heart, his doctor mentioned a very low salt diet. He pursued that and ended up not needing a transplant. Many others followed his experience with outstanding results.

Eating a low-salt diet, or at least one recommended by the RDA folks of 1500mg/day will be much better than what most Americans eat in a single day. But cutting back to levels like the Yanomami Indians can be a real game changer.

Walter Kempner (you've got to check out this dude on Google) saved the lives of many people by putting them on a low-salt diet. Back in the day, there were no drugs for hypertension and people died from it. Of course nowadays, one can pop a pill and merrily go on one's way. But in the long run, those who suffer from HBP and go on medication end up suffering from Alzheimer's in greater numbers than others.

Not only should we lower our sodium (Na), but our potassium (K) level should be raised. To meet just the minimum standard of 1500mg/day of sodium and the recommended level of potassium, you'd be in the 1 in 6000 people. Take your sodium intake to under 600mg/day and you're truly an oddball.

The best book I think ever written on hypertension is called The High Blood Pressure Solution, by Richard Moore. It's a fascinating book that takes a deep dive at how sodium works at the cellular level and sodium's interaction at the atomic level with potassium and calcium. Mr. Moore was on the cutting edge of discovering the importance of what he calls the K ratio, of potassium to sodium. 

If one eliminates high-sodium foods, it can only be that one will gradually eat a predominantly plant-based diet. Fruits/vegetables while both have sodium and potassium, the K ratio is much higher of K to Na. Almost all of us have a K ratio of <1.

A problem with HBP is what's called the Windkessel Effect. Little known is that the aorta acts like a second heart which pumps blood during the diastolic stage. As we age, along with continued HBP, and a diet that promotes atherosclerosis, ends up stiffening the aortic fibers, hence lessening the Windkessel Effect. 

Black people in US suffer an inordinate amount of HBP. Many on kidney dialysis. What is it with blacks ending up with this so-called idiopathic disease? How is it, not sure about the times of today, Kenyans virtually had no one with HBP?

To check out more about high salt related to HBP, check out Dr Peter Rogers and Nutrition Facts on YouTube. 

On Writing

 Writing. If one reads a lot, it follows one must be a good writer. Most of my outlet for writing is in the comments section after someone posts. For the most part, I think my writing is a waste of time, I'm not sure if anyone reads it, but it lets me formulate my thoughts. And writing on the computer comments could come back to bite me, in that what I write is there forever.

When I write, I like to have something to say. A different view or take that no one has thought of that might tickle the curious brain of someone reading. Reading something and getting the expected is boring. What fun is reading that? I like being surprised when I read, or when someone has personal experience about a topic that brings it much more to life. 

So when I write about something in my blog, I might give a statement of facts, but I want to give a spin that the reader might not have of. (Not good to end a sentence in a preposition). And even if my writing is poor, that's OK too, that's who I am. 

The Ascetic Diet

 Dr. Mc Dougall calls his diet "The Starch Solution". Nathan Pritikin "The Pritikin Diet". Alan Goldhamer's diet. They are all the same with a few iterations. And might I say, these 3 gentlemen are my nutritional heroes who I consider brilliant.

So there are different names for the diet, but they all boil down to the same foods, high in carbohydrates (fruits, vegetables, grains), with no oil, and very low in salt. Of course no meat or alcohol.

Since many like to name the diet, I'll call mine, "The Ascetic Diet". So 99.99% can read this and say "No fuckin way". Believe me, I understand and don't blame you.

But what if all the studies done that ultimately lead to this kind of diet are true? What studies you ask? Yep, there are reputable, well-researched studies that one could peruse to draw a conclusion. 

NutritionFacts.org has a YT channel and Michael Greger (the host) will flash studies on the screen. I'll pause the video while he's talking, open another tab, and find the study the doctor is talking about so I can read myself. Sadly, some studies are behind a paywall, and only when a fee is paid can the studies be viewed. Other times, the studies mentioned will be indexed in a nutrition book and the studies can then be researched.

Did you know you can reverse heart disease through diet (and exercise)? Sugar diabetes (Check out Mastering Diabetes) cured? Become unobese?

What if there truly is an ideal diet that will normalize blood pressure, glucose levels, and weight? There is such a diet. Or better said, a way of eating. But restaurants, our culture, food commercials, everything about everything, is 180D opposite of this. Going to a friend's house for dinner? Pack your fruit and veggies and don't eat what they serve. Same with restaurants, except don't bring food, eat before you leave. 

It's a decision not to be taken lightly, but it can prove to be the most important decision of your life. But it takes total commitment. Chef AJ's YT channel has excellent guests, and I recommend looking up Dr. Peter Rogers.

The beautiful part about finally learning that a low salt/fat vegan diet is the most healthy, you place yourself in parameters of what you can eat ad libitum. There virtually are no boundaries to eating the foods our bodies have evolved to eat. Look up environmental mismatch and how it relates to the foods we eat and how we evolved to this modern processed food culture. It'll blow your socks off.